


Aftermath

by Cephy



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-06
Updated: 2006-06-06
Packaged: 2017-10-06 23:16:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/58804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cephy/pseuds/Cephy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Two viewpoints following the events at the Sector Seven plate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Aftermath

Reno leans against the window, feeling it wonderfully cool beneath his cheek, his eyes automatically tracking the fall of stone and the fly of dust below. And there's something not quite right-- some feeling, that might have been-- it's something not quite unfamiliar, but it makes his chest feel tight so after a moment he shrugs it off and instead smiles at the reflection of fire against the smog-clouded sky.

"Take a look at the pretty lights, man," he says, and hears Rude grunt a reply.

It's pride that he feels, he decides. Pride in a job very definitely well done. Couldn't have been any _more_ well done than this.

He shifts in his seat again, tugging his suit back into place, frowning when it doesn't settle the way it should. He looks down at himself, blinking, and the thought comes that something doesn't look as it should. That thought nags at him until he finally realizes that it's just the colour, the blue fabric seeming darker than it should be. He nods to himself, satisfied with his deduction, as he turns back to the window.

Amazing how dark it got so quickly, without the sector lights, even with the fire--

He hears something, sounds like his name-- sounds like Rude's voice, but it can't be, because Rude is right next to him and that sound's coming from so far away. But damn, that plate must have gone down faster than he'd thought it would, because there's nothing out there, just-- nothing at all--

* * *

Rude twists the stick, swinging away just as the first pieces of the plate start hailing down, moving the chopper to avoid the growing plume of debris and smoke and ash. Reno finally hauls himself in the door fully, pulls it shut behind him, and it's a relief to have the noise from outside cut off even just that much.

"Take a look at the pretty lights, man," Reno says with that sharp, wild edge to his voice. And Rude does look, seeing the sparks and arcs of broken electricity below. He looks, and feels an unexpected little quiver in his gut-- they've never done anything quite _this_ big before.

Rude glances at his partner, sees him slouched with his cheek against the window, backwashed an eerie colour by the lights coming in, and smiling in a way that doesn't quite sit right on his face. Reno's plucking at his pants, too, brushing at the front of his jacket, turning his head to frown down at himself. Rude frowns too, wondering what Reno could be doing-- then the flash of an explosion lights up the cockpit, and he sees all the blood.

"Reno!"

"Hmm?" comes the faint response. Reno's head lolls against the window, his eyes still fixed on the outside and blinking slowly-- once, again, then drifting shut.

Rude calls Reno's name again, trying to get his attention, then growls a curse and grabs for the radio, heedless of Tseng and their cargo in the back, already changing course for the helipad closest to the infirmary.


End file.
